New Tune HSGA - Smoke Rings B11 - Gerald Ross

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 30 Jan 2006 6:47 am

I heard Les Paul and Mary Ford's 1951 recording of this tune this past weekend. I knew it would make a great steel tune. I tried it in C6 for an hour or so and it wasn't coming.

This one required a major paradigm shift. So I left my comfortable confines of C6, retuned to B11, and lo and behold there it was!

The steel is my trusty 1935 Bakelite Rick in B11 tuning (B D# F# A C# E lo->hi). The uke is my 2005 Lanikai CK-T Tenor Ukulele. The guitar is my recent Christmas gift a Gitane D-500 "Django style" Guitar. Band In A Box Bass.

Guitar and uke recorded acoustically. Steel direct into ProTools.

Smoke Rings

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'

CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 30 January 2006 at 06:48 AM.]

Don Kona Woods · Post by **Don Kona Woods** » 30 Jan 2006 8:13 am

Nice work Gerald.

Now if we could only get a tab to that.

Aloha,
Don

Chuck S. Lettes · Post by **Chuck S. Lettes** » 30 Jan 2006 10:03 am

Hi Gerald,
Nice rendition, and a great job recording. What type of microphone are you using on the acoustic instruments?
Chuck

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 30 Jan 2006 10:08 am

Thanks Don & Chuck,

Microphone:

Audio Technica Pro 37 Condenser

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'

CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 30 January 2006 at 10:08 AM.]

George Rout · Post by **George Rout** » 30 Jan 2006 10:38 am

Hey Gerald. Nice clean stuff. Nice tune, really goes well together, including your accompanient. Keep up the good work.
Geo

Harry Dietrich · Post by **Harry Dietrich** » 30 Jan 2006 10:44 am

Beautiful job Gerald.

I was wondering.....did you ever get a chance to work on any of those Bernie Kaai tunes I gave you at Joliet? Some of those were great songs.

Harry

Stephan Miller · Post by **Stephan Miller** » 30 Jan 2006 12:00 pm

Right up there with your best. Love that B11. Nice ukin' also.

Andy Barlo · Post by **Andy Barlo** » 30 Jan 2006 12:01 pm

Very, very nice as always Gerald. Is there anything you can't do? You keep this up and you could become my idol.

Bill Leff · Post by **Bill Leff** » 30 Jan 2006 12:13 pm

Gerald Ross is the True American Idol!

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 30 Jan 2006 3:58 pm

Wonderful, relaxed take on a pretty melody, Gerald. Your guitar sings the song without a lot of characteristic B11th cliches.

Jeff Au Hoy · Post by **Jeff Au Hoy** » 30 Jan 2006 4:00 pm

Gerald, I really love your tone on all the instruments. The thing I like about your stuff is that it is always old-style, but never hokey. I think you're my favorite modern day 'ukulele picker.

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 30 Jan 2006 4:09 pm

I second what Jeff says EXCEPT I think that you're my ALL time favourite Uke player ..So in tune !!..

Kris Oka · Post by **Kris Oka** » 30 Jan 2006 5:56 pm

Gerald, very nice. Great tone especially the steel. The Man can do it all.

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 30 Jan 2006 6:53 pm

Thanks all. I had a great time recording the tune. I said it before... those pop tunes of the 40's and 50's are tailor made for the steel.

Don - No tab. I just figured out the song two days ago. If you ask me to play it again next week I'll have to listen to my recording to re-learn it.

George - Accompaniment. I was amazed at how well the Gitane guitar recorded.

Stephan - B11, I think there may be a future with this one.

Harry - Those Bernie Kaii sheets stare me in the face every time I decend into my musical "man cave". One of these days...

Andy B - Yep, you're right. I'm right up there with William Hung.

Andy V - B11 cliches? I'm too lazy to learn cliches.

Jeff A H - I quit listening to the radio in 1970. At that point my musical tastes turned chronologically backwards. Hence my very large record collection and my very short attention span.

Baz - Here in the states we have these little metal geared gizmos that we tie our strings to. You can turn them left or right. Too much to the left the string get's flabby and won't sound. Too much to the right and you can only get gigs at Republican fund raisers.

Kris O - You are so right. I just got done cleaning the kitchen.

Honestly guys, thanks for the ego strokes.

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'

CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 30 January 2006 at 07:09 PM.]

Craig Stenseth · Post by **Craig Stenseth** » 30 Jan 2006 9:05 pm

Good work Gerald. So what types of things is B11 more suited for than C6 (besides, I am guessing, playing 11th chords in a straight bar position or being slightly lower in pitch). Is this the tuning you went over at the seminar in Indy (no, I was not taking good notes).

Jeff Au Hoy · Post by **Jeff Au Hoy** » 30 Jan 2006 9:17 pm

Craig, I like to think of the B11 not as an 11th tuning (it actually sounds pretty crummy if strummed across) but instead as a B9/A6 tuning. Everything below the top string is your B9 and the top 4 strings are your A6.

"Advantages" of the B11 (compared to C6): you can play straight-bar 9th chords, straight-bar three note diminished chords, and 6th chords voiced with the 5th on top. One drawback of the B11 off the top of my head is that you cannot play major chords with the root on top.

Steve Pierce · Post by **Steve Pierce** » 31 Jan 2006 1:33 pm

Sounds great Gerald! Nice and rich.

Love that intimate little Uke solo too.

Have you ever heard the version of this with Greg Leisz backing up K.D. Lang? Your version has a stronger Hawaiian influence than the Western Swing feel that K.D. and G.L. go after. I think I like yours better.

Thanks for always linking us to such nice listenings while we browse the forum!

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Steve Pierce

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 31 Jan 2006 3:32 pm

Thanks Steve,

The only versions I heard were Les Paul & Mary Ford's and Django Reinhardt's.

I went out to Itunes and listened to K.D.Lang's version. Very nice! Man! she really know's how to milk the words to that song! Unfortunately you can only hear a snippet of the steel on the 30 second sample they provide.

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'

CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 02 February 2006 at 01:51 PM.]

Kay Das · Post by **Kay Das** » 31 Jan 2006 3:45 pm

gerald, congratulations, one of your best. i love the "smokey" lead stylings and tone...the uke accompaniment and solo are beautiful too....in perfect contrast with the lead...

hmmm...wonder if there are more les paul and mary tunes that would lay well on steel guitar...

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kay

Jeff Au Hoy · Post by **Jeff Au Hoy** » 31 Jan 2006 3:54 pm

hmmm...wonder if there are more les paul and mary tunes that would lay well on steel guitar...

I'm thinking just about all of them!

Steve Pierce · Post by **Steve Pierce** » 1 Feb 2006 8:48 pm

Hey Gerald check your email.

I apologize if the file's too big.

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Steve Pierce